In Praise and Celebration of Book Clubs

October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

For many years I wanted to join a book club. The idea of meeting a lot of like minded people to talk about books was wonderful but I was hampered by two things. Firstly, there weren’t any near me and secondly I was hesitant about committing myself to reading books I didn’t like. Not that I expected to hate them all – I just knew there would be some I didn’t.

However, when there was an opportunity to set one up at work I jumped at the chance. I am so glad I did! Yes, there have been books I really did not like but there have been others that I loved – even some that I would not have picked up if left to myself.

I have also genuinely enjoyed the discussions and it is great to be able to have them with a group of people who love books just as much as me. Besides, I’ve learnt that if I really hate a book I don’t have to finish it. That makes an interesting discussion too.

Side note: this is neither a book I hated, nor one I didn’t want to read. I suggested the group read it for our meeting next week and I am gripped by it. Hopefully they have been enjoying it too!

Book Festival Fun

September 26, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

We are currently in the middle of one of my favourite weeks of the year – Appledore Book Festival.

I love book festivals anyway but there is something about Appledore which makes me extra happy – perhaps it is the sea or the fact that the sun always seems to be shining!

I always have a stall at the book fair, this year on the first Sunday of the festival. It is always nice to share my books with so many book lovers and I had a great time.

Bookseller’s view of a book fair

I also spend a few days working at the festival which is another joy. I get to meet so many fascinating people and, again, talk to loads of other book lovers.

Perhaps best of all though is the reading time – it doesn’t get much better than this!

Book Review – Pages & Co

September 20, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / 6 Comments

I love books about books so I was very excited to receive a review copy of Pages & Co: Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James from Harpercollins. The heroine lives in a book shop – what could be better?

Publisher’s Blurb
A captivating, curl-up-on-the-sofa debut about the magic of books and the power of the imagination.

Since her mother’s disappearance, eleven-year-old Tilly has found comfort in stories at Pages & Co., her grandparents’ bookshop. But when her favourite characters, Anne of Green Gables and Alice from Wonderland, appear in the shop, Tilly’s adventures become very real. Not only can she follow Anne and Alice into their thrilling worlds, she discovers she can bookwander into any story she chooses.

Tilly’s new ability could even help her solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago. But danger may be lurking on the very next page.

I was so excited to read this one – not least because one of Tilly’s favourite characters is Anne of Green Gables so I was predisposed to like her. From the very first chapter I was sucked in. Pages & Co sounds like the very best kind of book shop with log fires, plenty of comfy places to sit and the most amazing sounding coffee shop. I really want to try some of Jack’s delicious concoctions.

Tilly is very like me in a great many ways so I was right at home in this book. The idea of bookwandering is wonderful and I spent a lovely few hours lost in Tilly’s world. It is a charming book and I was so absorbed that I really didn’t want it to end. It might be aimed primarily at children but it is perfect for book lovers of all ages.

Book Details

Pages & Co: Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James

ISBN: 9780008229863

Publisher: Harpercollins

RRP: £12.99

The Joy of Serendipity

September 12, 2018September 12, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

On Monday I was hurrying along the street towards the railway station when I came upon an Oxfam bookshop. I didn’t really have time to stop but I could see a very attractive classics section just inside the door and decided I could spare a couple of minutes to browse that at least.

There were some good books there but nothing I wanted to buy and I was just turning away when my eye fell on the poetry section – specifically a book of medieval Latin lyrics.

In a few weeks I will be going to the Cheltenham Literary Festival and I am especially excited about a talk on how to read a Latin poem. This focuses specifically on two poems – one (part of Ovid’s Amores) I have already and the other the Confession of the Archpoet which I have been struggling a bit to find. The problem is that I want an edition with both the Latin and the English translation – although I have done some Latin I am not yet good enough to read a whole poem easily but I didn’t want to just have the translation which would kind of defeat the point!

Anyway, there I was in the bookshop with the Latin lyrics in my hand and thinking that the Confession is a medieval poem – and a pretty famous one at that. Surely it might well be in this very book? A quick flick through located it and even better it was there in both Latin and English. I snatched it up. Thankfully I also managed to catch my train home.

It just goes to show – it is always a good idea to visit any bookshop you may come across!

Book Review – The Moonstone

September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / 2 Comments

I have wanted to read The Moonstone ever since Kate Summerscale talked about it in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher – and I read that book years ago!

Somehow though, I just haven’t got around to it before now. When I was in Dartmouth I naturally visited every bookshop I found – including the Community Bookshop. It is a lovely little shop and as I gravitated towards the classics section I found several books with the best covers. They were all published by Alma Classics and I so wanted to have one of those covers! I seemed to own all of the titles already though and it was only a determined second look which unearthed The Moonstone. It’s like it was meant to be!

Publisher’s Blurb

When Rachel Verinder’s legacy of a priceless Indian diamond is stolen, all the evidence indicates that it is her beloved, Franklin Blake, who is guilty. Around this central axis of crime and thwarted love, Collins constructs an ingenious plot of teasing twists and surprises, and an elaborate multi-voiced narrative that sustains the tension all the way to its stunning ending.

Described by T.S. Eliot as the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels, Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone is an important precursor of the modern mystery and suspense genres.

This was my first proper Wilkie Collins book – I used to have an audio book of The Woman in White but it was a dramatisation and not the full novel. However, I knew I had enjoyed that so I was fully expecting to like this one too.

I was right – it was an intriguing mystery and although I guessed the culprit fairly early on there were so many twists and turns that I was never quite sure of myself. I also think that I was basing it more on my dislike of the character than any actual evidence! The methods used to solve the crime were fantastic too and I was very satisfied with the ending.

It was a much easier read than I expected and I very much enjoyed it. I will definitely be seeking out more of Wilkie Collins’ books. Perhaps I’ll even finally read the whole of The Woman in White!

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Book Details

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

ISBN: 9781847494221

Publisher: Alma Books

RRP: £5.99

Visiting Agatha Christie

August 29, 2018August 29, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / 2 Comments

I am just back from a week’s holiday in Dartmouth. I had a lovely, restful time and got to do a lot of reading.

No trip to Dartmouth would be complete without a visit to Agatha Christie’s house Greenway. She described it as, ‘The loveliest place in the world,’ and it really is beautiful. You can see that the views when she lived there must have been amazing, although the trees have grown up a bit now and obscure the view somewhat.

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Some of the nicest things about the house are the bookshelves. A great many National Trust houses have libraries which are filled with books bought by the yard – all matching and never read. The books here were completely mismatched and looked very well read which made me so happy. There were naturally many different editions of Agatha Christie’s own books and I fell in love with this little bookcase on the landing. I want one!

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Perhaps my favourite thing though was the drawer of imaginatively addressed envelopes which found their way to the house.

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Of these, I was especially fond of this one which is just wonderful.

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Of course, we had to walk down to the boathouse which features so prominently in Dead Man’s Folly. We had been listening to the audio book on the way down to Dartmouth and I finished it after our visit. I have read it before but it was fascinating to read it again and be able to picture the scene exactly.

Once in the boathouse we spent a long time watching the river from the balcony. It is such a peaceful spot and it is a lovely place to sit. There is a fireplace inside so I should think it would be wonderfully cosy in winter too. Whilst there I also got to sit in Agatha Christie’s own chair – it was made especially for her and she used to sit in it to look over her manuscripts. One couldn’t read anything but Dead Man’s Folly there and there was a handy copy lying on the chair with a useful label pointing me to the relevant pages.

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We left by ferry and so walked down to the quay through the woods – the shortcut which so infuriated Sir George Stubbs. It was a lovely day and I’m sure I will be back again in the future.

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Book Review – ‘Theatrical’ by Maggie Harcourt

August 19, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

I don’t read a great many young adult books. Partly I think because I don’t remember my local libraries or bookshops having young adult sections when I was a teenager. I assume they had them but I just completely skipped them.

Sometimes though, a YA book screams at me to read it and it is only polite to do so. Last year one of those books was Maggie Harcourt’s Unconventional which I loved – if you haven’t read it already then I highly recommend it. At the time I said that it reminded me why I love reading so much.

Therefore, when I saw that Maggie Harcourt had a new book coming out I was very excited indeed. I was lucky enough to be sent a reading copy of Theatrical by Usborne and I could not have been happier.

Publisher’s Blurb
Hope dreams of working backstage in a theatre, and she’s determined to make it without the help of her famous costume-designer mum. So when she lands an internship on a major production, she tells no one. But with a stroppy Hollywood star and his hot young understudy upstaging Hope’s focus, she’s soon struggling to keep her cool…and her secret.

I was captivated by this one straight away – the first scene is just wonderful – and I was so pleased to be back in Maggie’s world. I also loved the fact that it ties in with Unconventional.

I thought the book had a great storyline and I very much enjoyed reading it. The best thing for me though was how invested I was in the characters. I have read several books recently – mainly ones chosen for my book club – where I have just not engaged with the characters at all so I didn’t really care what happened to them and thus wasn’t driven to keep reading. I definitely wanted to keep reading this one! I even found myself getting quite emotional as the first night performance was about to start. A few tears may have been shed.

I very much identified with Hope, the main character. There were several times when I paused my reading because she expresses how I feel so well. Moments like this: ‘I can almost feel the quiet seeping into my skin like a dye, a drug. I will always be chasing this; this exact silence, because this is the only place I can find it.’

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book and I will definitely be looking out for the next one.

Book Details

Theatrical by Maggie Harcourt

ISBN: 9781474940689

Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd

RRP: £7.99

Classification: Young Adult

Summer Book Stall

August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / 2 Comments

As well as reading voraciously I also love to talk about books. One of the best ways to get to do that is to sell them so that is what I do – I have a stand of vintage books which I take to local shows.

Last weekend was my local village fête and my stall and I went along to take part.

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I am very particular about the books I sell. They are all either books I have read and loved; books I really want to read – which unfortunately makes me reluctant to sell them; or books I would describe as, ‘Nice.’

Nice is one of those words English teachers try to discourage. It is overused and there are so many better, more descriptive words which could take its place. However, in my family it has a very specific meaning and describes lovely things which can’t really be quantified any other way. They are just nice.

All this means that I can talk enthusiastically about any of the books on my stall with anybody at any time. There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when you recommend a book you think someone will love and they actually take your advice. It makes my day.

I had a lovely time at the fête and took the opportunity to wear my new dress. How could I not?

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Summer Reading

August 3, 2018August 3, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

“One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.”

Jeannette Walls – The Glass Castle

I absolutely agree with the sentiment in this quote. Even though we have artificial light there is nothing quite like a summer evening spent outside with a book.

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I generally read a lot of classics but I do like to intersperse them with lighter reads, especially in the summer. One August a few years ago I exclusively read Enid Blyton and it was wonderful.

Recently I have had a bit of a run of cosy crime books. I started with Agatha Christie’s The Man in the Brown Suit which I first read on an archaeology field trip when I was at college. There was a copy lying around the youth hostel which I naturally picked up and I loved it. I have always remembered it as one of my favourite of Christie’s books.

I was not disappointed on re-reading it either – I still loved it and just wish there were more books featuring Anne Beddingfeld.

What are you reading at the moment? Do you have any recommendations for good summer reads? I would love to hear them!

Welcome

July 22, 2018August 23, 2018 / Eleanor Jane / 1 Comment

I have been a bookworm for as long as I can remember.

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I am the sort of person who will actually read the cereal packet if there is nothing else to read and it is very rare for me to leave the house without a book in my bag. Even if I know I won’t get a chance to read, I hate the idea of being caught without a book.

I can’t remember the first book I read by myself but I do vividly remember my first Famous Five book. We went camping when I was seven and my parents gave me an omnibus edition of the first three books. I guzzled it down and finished it within a day. I haven’t really looked back since.

In fact, a lot of my fondest memories involve books. When I was thirteen we studied Great Expectations at school but, as often happened in our English class, we only really read a few chapters. I borrowed a copy from the school library and finished it over the summer, mostly sat on a raft with my feet in the stream. That book happened to be the Everyman edition and now whenever I see one of their books I am transported straight back to that summer.

Books have always been a very important part of my life and I love to share them. Welcome to my bookish corner of the world.

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